Dan Buckley, the longtime publisher of Marvel Comics, has been promoted to president of Marvel Entertainment.
Buckley has been publisher of Marvel Comics since 2003 and, in recent times, has also overseen animation and digital, having the title of president, TV, publishing and brand. The new role now puts the games, global brand management and the franchise groups, which oversee licensing and merchandising, under his purview.
The move means that Buckley, who continues to report to Ike Perlmutter, will manage a portfolio covering all of Marvel except for its movie division, Marvel Studios, which is run by Kevin Feige.
Buckley got his Marvel start working in the international licensing division, becoming a vp marketing services in the 1990s. He left for a stint at marketing agency Omnicom Group then returned to Marvel in 2003, this time as publisher.
Under this leadership, Marvel began successful annual publishing events that brought entire lines of books together, such as Civil War and Secret Wars, launched a series of reboots and rebrands and brought more ethnic and gender diversity to the company's hero lineup. He also made big strides online, launching, for example, the Marvel Unlimited digital subscription service, and partnered with Scholastic to get Marvel's books outside the comic book stores.
Buckley brought in producer Jeph Loeb to make a concerted push into television, with the two creating more than 100 hours of live-action programming with shows such as Agents of SHIELD and Marvel's Netflix shows such as Daredevil, Jessica Jones and Luke Cage, and over 150 hours of animated programming featuring Spider-Man, Guardians of the Galaxy and The Avengers, among others.
The promotion is seen partly as a doubling down of the company into the creation of content that is non-film related. It is also seen as a reward for an executive who has been praised for a management style that blends mediums and an intimate geek knowledge of Marvel comics.
